Montreux Jazz Festival: Is it really even a jazz festival? Whatever – it’s brilliant

With nine stages dotted along the sparkling shoreline of Lake Geneva, framed by the snow-capped peaks of the Swiss Alps and moments from the vineyards of Lavaux, it is difficult to imagine a more picturesque festival than the Montreux Jazz Festival – or one more eclectic.

Running across the first two weeks of July, it began as a small string of concerts from European jazz artists in 1967 to bring much-needed tourism to this small, sleepy town. But since Quincy Jones co-produced the festival for a couple of years in the early Nineties and opened it up to starry global names, everyone from Iggy Pop and Prince to Lady Gaga and Kendrick Lamar has come to headline. As US musician Questlove put it: “Montreux Jazz Festival is the original prestige festival. If they invite you here, it is your duty and an honour to come and perform.”

This year, headliners you would never usually see on the same bill included Diana Ross, Björk, Herbie Hancock, Van Morrison, Nick Cave, Maneskin, Melody Gardot, Jeff Beck, John Legend, Sam Ryder and Stormzy, pulling together a distinctly diverse crowd of all ages and nationalities. And so, it was a wonderfully surreal experience on Friday night to watch 79-year-old French rock star Jacques Dutronc perform with his son Thomas in the magnificent Stravinski Auditorium (where drinks are not even allowed inside to protect the wood-lined floor) before hopping downstairs to see 29-year-old Ivorian-French rapper Laylow in the basement Jazz Lab.

The concerts could not have been more different: Dutronc’s ragged voice wisping away at the edges as he tinkled a tambourine and grumbled about Paris, while Laylow jumped around in a frenzy as the bassline exploded on sci-fi songs inspired by the Matrix.

The following evening, it was the brilliant American R’n’B singer Tinashe and fast-rising British producer Fred Again who played the Jazz Lab, while upstairs Diana Ross dazzled in a yellow satin gown with all the charisma we have come to expect from the 78-year-old diva.

“Turn those spotlights off – I’m too hot!” she shouted on several occasions, waving her hands up to the rafters in irritation, before instructing her 11 grandchildren to join her on stage to dance coyly beside her. Clearly, last month’s concerts at the Queen’s Jubilee and Glastonbury have proved excellent practise, as her voice was unbelievable, while she swayed and moved with the grace and ease of a woman half her age.

A theme across these headline performances was a comic nod to the lack of jazz – perhaps indication of the genre’s dwindling star power. “But we don’t make jazz, why the hell are we here?” quipped Thomas Dutronc, looking at his father with a puzzled grin. Ross, meanwhile, joked, “I heard this is a jazz festival?” before launching into a cover of Billie Holiday’s Don’t Explain.

Instead, it was the smaller stages on the water that catered to jazz proper, with impromptu jam sessions taking place until 5am in the lowlit jazz bar of the Lake House, as well as performances from a notably British line-up including tuba player Theon Cross and Grammy-winning duo Blue Lab Beats. It was also in the Lake House where you could lose yourself in a library of over 300 vinyl recordings from Montreux’s history, and try out  out one of the most expensive record players in the world – the $170,000 Nagra.

With most of the festival’s 380 concerts being free (only the headliners are paid-for), Montreux Jazz Festival is a brilliantly accessible opportunity to discover music of all genres in one of the most beautiful corners of the world. And, having spied groups of twentysomethings clapping along to Diana Ross, while several older faces lingered inquisitively at the back of both Laylow and Fred Again, MJF allows everyone to step outside their generation and try something new.

Until July 16; montreuxjazzfestival.com